Monday, June 4, 2012

Touring An Airplane Graveyard

Having spent most of my life in and around aviation, I have been given opportunities to see and do things that others are not so fortunate to experience.

Headed west, I get a chance to visit what I consider an “Airplane Graveyard”. Just outside of Tucson, Arizona, I have a bittersweet afternoon as I am given a tour of the final resting place for many of the machines that have allowed many of us to see the world and enjoy air travel.

Parked in the Arizona desert are all types of airplanes from numerous airlines around the world. Many of them are from what I consider the glory days of aviation and air travel. A time when you got a hot meal in coach and did not have to pay extra fees for bags.

A time when air travel in general was more fun than it is today.

Trans World Airlines – TWA 747

From a TWA 747, a Continental DC9 to a field of old Northwest airplanes waiting to be made into beer cans, it's a kind of sad reality but an interesting tour.

Old Northwest DC9 Airplanes

I even get to see close up the world's only 747 water tanker.

My fondest aviation memory comes alive when we stop to see a fleet of once the world’s oldest airline. As a kid growing up in Nassau, Bahamas, it was always very cool and thrilling to watch a Chalk’s Airline seaplane make an approach and water landing just past our downtown.

For me, it was fascinating that an airplane could land on water and then make it's way onto Paradise Island, now home of Atlantis.

Soon, I drift back from the warmth and beauty of the islands to the heat and dryness of the Arizona desert. I am reminded that earlier I also had a another nice childhood memory flashback here.